SHAYTAN'S DECEPTION:GOING TO EXTREMES.
Allah never orders anything except that
Satan takes two contradictory stances
towards it: either shortcoming and
negligence or overzealousness and
exaggeration. It does not matter [to him] by
which of these two mistakes he becomes
victorious over the slave. He comes to the
heart of the slave and examines it.
If he finds in it listlessness and looking for
loopholes, he deals with him from that
vantage. He impedes him and makes him sit.
He strikes him with laziness, listlessness and
lethargy. He opens for him the door to
reinterpretations (ta'weel), hopes and so
forth until the slave may not fulfill anything
of what he is commanded.
If he finds in the slave's heart alertness,
seriousness, desire to work and potential,
Satan despairs from attacking him through
the above means. Instead, he orders him to
strive even harder. He convinces him that
what he is doing is not sufficient for him.
His ambition is to be greater than that. He
must work more than the other workers. He
should not sleep when they sleep. He should
not break his fast when they break their
fasts. He should not rest when they rest. If
one of them washes his hands and face
three times, he should wash them seven
times. If one makes wudhu for prayer, he
must make ghusl. [He orders him to] similar
acts of exaggeration and extremism. He
makes him go to extremes and beyond the
limits. He makes him stray from the straight
path in the same way that he makes the first
person [described above] fall short of the
straight path and not approach it.
Satan's intention for both is to keep them
from the straight path: the first by making
him not come close or near to it and the
second by making him pass it and go
beyond it. Many of creation are misled by
these two strategies. There is no escape
from them except deep knowledge, faith
and the strength to fight Satan and stay
along the middle path.
Allah never orders anything except that
Satan takes two contradictory stances
towards it: either shortcoming and
negligence or overzealousness and
exaggeration. It does not matter [to him] by
which of these two mistakes he becomes
victorious over the slave. He comes to the
heart of the slave and examines it.
If he finds in it listlessness and looking for
loopholes, he deals with him from that
vantage. He impedes him and makes him sit.
He strikes him with laziness, listlessness and
lethargy. He opens for him the door to
reinterpretations (ta'weel), hopes and so
forth until the slave may not fulfill anything
of what he is commanded.
If he finds in the slave's heart alertness,
seriousness, desire to work and potential,
Satan despairs from attacking him through
the above means. Instead, he orders him to
strive even harder. He convinces him that
what he is doing is not sufficient for him.
His ambition is to be greater than that. He
must work more than the other workers. He
should not sleep when they sleep. He should
not break his fast when they break their
fasts. He should not rest when they rest. If
one of them washes his hands and face
three times, he should wash them seven
times. If one makes wudhu for prayer, he
must make ghusl. [He orders him to] similar
acts of exaggeration and extremism. He
makes him go to extremes and beyond the
limits. He makes him stray from the straight
path in the same way that he makes the first
person [described above] fall short of the
straight path and not approach it.
Satan's intention for both is to keep them
from the straight path: the first by making
him not come close or near to it and the
second by making him pass it and go
beyond it. Many of creation are misled by
these two strategies. There is no escape
from them except deep knowledge, faith
and the strength to fight Satan and stay
along the middle path.
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